Ocean biodiversity
Activities such as mining, dredging or heavy fishing still legal in over 80% of the EU’s marine protected area
Only 0.2% of EU waters are fully or highly protected. Photo: Mutlu Kurtbas via Canva.
The European Union aims to protect 30% of its marine environments. But so far, it’s still possible to either dredge, mine or fish intensively even in most areas which already are under protection.
- Marine protected areas are a well-established tool for conservation
- However, such areas can have different levels of protection
- A new study shows that 86% of marine protected area in the EU only have limited protection status
Our ocean guarantees our food, climate regulation and well-being, but it is largely threatened by heatwaves, overfishing and ecosystem destruction caused by ever-expanding human activities. The European Union and its member states have designated marine protected areas as areas where the protection of marine biodiversity is a priority.
Marine protected areas are a well-established tool for conservation. They can improve marine biodiversity and enable sustainable fisheries.
In a new study, scientists including Centre researcher Anastasiya Laznya, have assessed how protected these areas really are in the EU. They did so by classifying them into four protection levels from fully protected with no extractive activities, to minimally protected where high-impact activities can be allowed.
Their results show that marine protected areas cover 11.4% of EU waters. But only 0.2% were fully or highly protected. Of the 11.4% of EU waters covered by marine protected areas, 86% showed light, minimal, or no protection from the most harmful human activities, such as dredging, mining, or the most damaging fishing gear.
“We found that the various legislation used to establish marine protected areas, including national laws, international conventions, and EU Directives, offered minimal protection. For them to protect marine biodiversity, it is urgent to increase the regulations and the protection they provide,” explains co-author Anastasiya Laznya.
The new study was published in the journal OneEarth. It was produced by an international research team from Portugal, France, the United Kingdom, the USA, Sweden and Romania, led by PhD student Juliette Aminian-Biquet from the University of Algarve, Portugal.
Aminian-Biquet, J., Gorjanc, S., Sletten, J., Vincent, T., Laznya, A., Vaidianu, N., Claudet, J., Young, J. & Horta e Costa, B. 2024. Over 80% of the European Union’s marine protected area only marginally regulates human activities. One Earth.
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